Transcribed by Chang Chin & Changchub Saldon
Palpung Sherabling Monastery and all of its various aspects are started almost thirty years back because the original Palpung Thubten Choekhor Ling Monastery which was started at the eighteen century by the eighth Tai Situ. Since this monastery, Palpung Thubten Choekhor Ling, became a very important seat not only for Karma Kagyu but also for entire Marpa Kagyu as well as Sangpa Kagyu; And it is not only Kagyu but all of the eight major lineages of Vajrayana Buddhism. Not only the Vajrayana Buddhism in the religious sense but in the literature, history, art, and also astrology and medicine. And not only in Tibetan language but also in Sanskrit language. And this way, the Palpung Thubten Choekhor Ling became a very important seat for renaissance of Vajrayana Buddhism and all the culture and heritage which is related with it, such as language, translation from Sanskrit to Tibetan, from Tibetan to Sanskrit, from Tibetan to Nepalese, and Nepalese to Tibetan and also from Tibetan to Chinese and from Chinese to Tibetan. So for all of these, past almost three hundred years the Palpung Thubten Choekhor Ling has been very important seat and it is actually beyond religion and beyond one language. It became universal seat for renaissance.
Now since this seat, the Palpung Thubten Choekhor Ling has been disabled and almost totally destroyed then the need for constructing a seat which represent the same thing became inevitable responsibility of me because when I was eighteen months old, I am enthroned as the twelfth Tai Situpa. So it is whether I like it or not, it is my duty to uphold and continue the great legacy which is contributed by eighth Tai Situ, ninth Tai Situ, tenth Tai Situ, eleventh Tai Situ. And not only that, before eighth Tai Situ, the seat of Tai Situpas are Karma Gon, and that is from the first Tai Situ to eighth Tai Situ. But even before the first Tai Situ, during the time of Drogon Rechen then he became a very important master of the Karma Gon. And later his incarnation became the head of the Karma Gon Monastery. And before Drogon Rechen then great Tibetan master such as Marpa Chokyi Lodro who went to India three times and who spent more than twenty one years in India learning very sacred teachings, transmissions from great Indian Mahasiddhas, such as Naropa and Matripa etc. And including Hevajra tantra, he brought thirteen main tantras and all of its practices, empowerments and all the various aspects of those tantras such as empowerments and meditation instruction, mandala, the sadhana all of that he brought from India to Tibet. And this became the Marpa Kagyu lineage. And now prior to Marpa Lotsawa, great Bodhisattva Maitreya was coronated by Buddha Shakyamuni when he descend from Tusita Heaven to earth to be the fifth Buddha of this eon among the thousand Buddha. And since then in Tusita heaven, the Lord Maitreya who is enthroned by Buddha Shakyamuni is the Lord of Tusita.
And so all of these became something that I have to uphold. I am what I am, I know. But at the same time, it is my duty towards Lord Maitreya, my duty towards Guru Padmasambhava, my duty towards Marpa Lotsawa, my duty towards all great masters from Drogon Rechen to first Tai Situ, and from first Tai Situ that is in fifteen century until eighth Tai Situ, that is in eighteen century; from eighth Tai Situ to the eleventh Tai Situ up to today. So it became my responsibility.
With my capacity in all aspects, it has been very difficult because when I came here I was twenty two years old. And that time there was no road, no electricity, no water and nobody is here. We have to start from absolute zero. And from there up to today, it is about thirty years. And actual construction work is actually about twenty nine years. And slowly, slowly then this Dharma community has developed due to the very kind and very helpful hospitality of the people of India and government of India and local people, here the local Indian people, and also with very generous and dedicated and devoted support from disciples in India as well as Indian Buddhist communities. All the Himalayas, as well as Buddhist followers and friends through out of the world, from Europe, European continent, from American continent, from Southeast Asian countries, and then also Oceania, such as Australia, New Zealand and other places, and also people from Africa. And all the generosity and kind support from all these individuals and also some organizations. Then slowly slowly the Palpung Sherabling is able to have some very basic facilities which we have today. What we have today is communities of monks and nuns about six hundred here and then also we have several branches in different parts of India and also several branches, Dharma centers in some of the Southeast Asia countries as well as some European countries as well as American countries partly Canada and United States. And these centers are directly affiliated with Palpung Sherabling Monastery and there are many other centers which are related with the Palpung Congregation which is not exactly and not necessarily under the administration of the Palpung Sherabling Monastery but historically connected, established by great masters who originated from the Palpung Monastery especially since the eighth Tai Situ and ninth Tai Situ, tenth Tai Situ and eleventh Tai Situ.
So I take this responsibility with great honor, great honor to serve the Buddha and also great honor to serve the humanity. I don't see there is any difference between serving Buddha and serving humanity.I believe in the essence of every living beings as well as everything that is perceived by them. For me, according to my lineage, everything is sacred. Therefore when I look at other religion, such as Hinduism, Christian, Judaism, Islam all of these religions, actually it is impossible for me to say they are not coming from the same sources. I describe every religion as of the humanity, by the humanity, for the humanity. Because it is human being who described the God. And he discovered the God. And it is the human being who became the Buddha. It is the human being who received the message from the God and also it is human being who received the teachings from the Buddha. And therefore, always it involves in human being as a recipient who receive it and then who heard it and then spread it for the benefit of all the living creatures by the human being. So it is for the betterment of every single human being as well as every single living creature. It is for the benefit of all of them. The benefit is very simple. The true benefit for all living being is to be free, to be happy, to be free from suffering. You and I can never find one single living creature in the entire existence who don't like to be happy and who like to suffer. You can never find. Therefore, it is the ultimate happiness and ultimate freedom which has no limitation that is what we as Buddhist call Buddhahood. And I think that can be described as also salvation.
And everything that is involved in building a monastic community, such as this one, it is for this purpose. Not for any other purposes. I also have great interest in building hospitals and schools and also providing people ideas so that they can have a better innovative, creative commerce. So that people would make money as well as they would not destroy the environment. And it would benefit everyone. I have interest in all of these. But my interest is one thing, and my duty is another thing. My duty is to build monastery to preserve the sacred lineage and that is my duty. And of course, when my duty is fulfilled then I definitely want to also put efforts in the other direction which is to assist humanity in a relative, temporary sort of manner. For example, if you build a hospital, you can make people have less pain when they are sick and you can help them to live another ten years longer or twenty years longer. When you built a hospital, that is what it is. And when you build a school, then you can provide people education. So the persons would be able to hold his or her head high and take care of themselves rather than become a dependent person. The person becomes independent, self-sufficient. Person can function by herself or himself. And that is what education provides. You make a good human being, able human being. And when it comes to economy, it is also the same thing. Because entire humanity is in need of something all the time. But as responsible entrepreneur, one should really think very clearly that what they want is really what they need. And is it realy good for them, is it realy good for them or is it harmful to them. So you create some kind of service for demand which would be helpful and beneficial for the humanity, not harmful to the humanity and which would not exploit the environment and resources. So that the entire humanity can benefit from it, not just one group of humanity, the one who uses it and one who provide it and others who are going to be there in the future when we are gone. And we have to have everything for them as well. We cannot use up everything and then next generation have nothing. That is thus responsible.
So this way, I describe this as active peace because I don't believe in passive peace. Do nothing and everything would be OK. I don't believe in that. Because if you do nothing, then others would do everything. So everything will happen. And you do nothing, that's all. So active peace means if we do necessary things, put effort and safeguard with very strong, clear, conscientious, responsible perception and principle then one can really benefit the humanity, at the same time oneself also would have very very successful life. But I am telling you this because many times I have this strong urge to do things such as build hospitals, build school, build orphanages and all these things. I have very strong urge but first I have to complete my responsibility. That is to continue the legacy of all the great Tai Situpas. Because I like it or not, when I was eighteen months old, I am enthroned as twelfth Tai Situ. And that is what my life is all about. And I have dedicated my entire life for this legacy. And thank you very much for all of you for doing every thing that you have done to support my work and I am also very very sincerely wishing to express all of you who have supported all of the great works of other great persons. I am not saying I am a great person; but I represent a great person. And I do the job of a great person. And I try to uphold and cherish the duty of great person and great lineage. But there are so many great people doing lots of wonderful things in Buddhism as well as in other religions. I really thank you all on behalf of everybody who gets the benefit. From my heart, I want to thank you all for making all of their great aspirations come to reality and then last but not least, I want to thank you all for helping me also. Thank you, thank you very much.
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